The following statement was issued by chief operating officer Doug Goodman:
"In our 85 years, we have never had, nor will we ever have any tolerance for anyone who seeks to harm a child, in any physical, emotional or sexual way."
The suit, which was filed last week in U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas says Kanakuk President Joe White kept Pete Newman on staff working with children even after 1999 and 2003 incidents in which Newman was cavorting in the nude with the children.
Newman is serving two life sentences, plus 30 years, after pleading guilty last year to several sex crimes involving teenage boys.
Details of the lawsuit can be found at this link.
Previous Turner Report posts on this lawsuit, the first lawsuit against Pete Newman and Kanakuk, and all court proceedings involving the criminal aspects of the case can be found at this link.
17 comments:
This "response" is old news. Saw it online last week.
Allow me to translate for you..."We don't tolerate them, but we hire them and fire them only after charges have been filed against them"
Pete's victims became counselors. Think about that.
Close the Kamp
Close the Kamp
Close the Kamp
need I say more.
I also heard that about Pete's victims becoming counselors. I would very much like someone (police, state officials) to look into this "rumor." Sadly, I believe it may be true.
I'm all for Kanakuk closing for a season or two, or however long it takes to sort this out. It's wrong to risk any other kids. Period. Joe can fly around on his jet and write more books while the rest of us figure out how to keep his employees from raping our children.
The problem with their statement is they cannot and did not show their commitment by alowing Pete to stay on staff after acting like a pervert.
do they even know the definition of a pervert.
Joe White, Chris Cooper and the rest of the management staff had several opportunities to show their commitment.
This is a story of David and Goliath, because Joe has a lot of influence in the "Religious" arena, but I wonder what Dr. Dobson thinks about this. And I hope that Dr. Dobson does not have Joe on his program as an "Expert on Purity".
he may want to pick someone that actually shows that commitment.
@9:21: And what exactly should the
"police, state officials" do if they find that some of Newman's former victims are / have been counselors? Are you suggesting the government should forbid VICTIMS of crimes from pursuing certain types of employment? Jeeeeeezzz...
To 5:41...no, but I think given the number of victims, it's fair to investigate if Pete was the only abuser. After all, he was molested as a child, and became an abuser. If the other victims who became counselors didn't have access to help or therapy, the stakes are too high to assume that everything is "okay." I also think it's reasonable for all of us to want those now-adult victims to have access to all of the victim's advocate resources. No one is jumping to a negative here, but what I do want is for everyone to have the support they may need. There are 70+ known victims at this time, and many, many more out there. Don't you think it's best for all of them to have access to a victim's advocate?
Please keep in mind that this is a civil suit and not a criminal proceeding. During the time between Pete being arrested and the actual trial it was Jeff Merrel's (Taney County Prosecuting Attorney) legal responsibility to determine if any official at Kanakuk had any knowledge of the crimes that Pete had committed. Jeff Merrel said, "the investigation had not revealed ANY evidence that would lead to criminal charges against White or other camp personnel." And yet somehow all of you have greater insight into the crimes of Kanakuk than Jeff Merril or the Taney county police officials. So all of these theories about how Joe or somebody at camp was allowing this to happen because Pete was making so much money for camp are absolutely ridiculous. Yes camp made an awful mistake in continuing to employ Pete Newman after his first offense, but to suggest that any one at camp "fostered" or allowed Pete to molest or rape children is foolishness.
So, what do we call two instances of not holding Newman accountable and not notifying the Missouri hotline? A mistake?
Breaking an egg is a "mistake."
Shattering the lives of dozens of kids is something else entirely.
It would wonderful if someone could explain, then if not for Pete's popularity and abilities to compel attendence and donations, WHY did Kanakuk give him a pass?
12:06 PM,
If Jeff Merrel felt that not notifying the Missouri hotline was a criminal offense then he is legally obligated to bring charges up against officials at camp. Bottom line.
I can only speculate that the reason why Pete was given a pass was that he was a master of deception. I speculate that he made a scene about how sorry he was about it all, and knowing that Kanakuk is a forgiving environment he worked that in his favor. After all thats the nature of what ministries do.
By Saying that I am not attempting to pass the buck onto Pete. Kanakuk should have fired him but I want to be clear that by continuing to employ him they did not do anything that was criminal at that point. Once they knew of aligations he was fired. If they had any previous knowledge, Jeff Merrill would have brought up charges against them.
Kanakuk should and will be held liable for what they have done. I am just sick of people blaming Kanakuk officials for Petes crimes as if they were accessories.
This is a very important discussion to have, and I'm glad it's happening.
Failure to report cases are very hard to prove, especially several years past the fact.
I completely agree that Pete was a master of deception. But, I feel, and it's just my opinion that camp officials are morally responsible for what happened after the point that the first report was made in 1999. Legally? In a civil court? Those are all different matters.
I don't beleive the executive leadership at the camp have what it takes to be responsible for other people's children. The kind of change needed at Kanakuk to ensure safety for ALL is a full-scale culture change.
They are hiding behind a carefully worded statement that is directly opposed to what their historical actions are.
Going back to Pete's time at Auburn, it was widely known on campus by Pete's personal testimony that he had been molested. Some have suggested that Joe White knew about this from Pete and even his long term friendship with Pete's father. He knew that Pete had never had any professional help, just his testimony of how his faith got him through what had happened to him. Joe White actively recruited Pete, hired him, and promoted him. I ask, do you think that was reasonable?
I don't.
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-03-18/news/os-windermere-molestation-arrest-20110317_1_universal-orlando-free-trips-new-charges
And the saga continues...
Wow. The lax leadership goes beyond what anyone could imagine.
The gentleman who wrote "I don't beleive the executive leadership at the camp have what it takes to be responsible for other people's children." has never made a truer statement.
I worked for Kanakuk years ago, and I must say I've never seen a "ministry" so ripe for a failure like this. What you people don't see, what I saw from the inside, is the "star power" these guys foster amongst themselves and their followers.
This "ministry", like many others, is so star-focused, so bent on the cult of personality of guys like Joe and the other "rock star" camp directors. For instance, one of my coworkers at the time told me of a meeting he was in with these "rock stars" where one of them told him these camp directors were true royalty, like kings! My coworker thought he was joking, but the idiot repeated the statement in all seriousness.
So the deal with these kinds of "ministries" is elevating these immature "camp director" personalities to places they
don't have the brains, management expertise or character strength to be. And that includes Joe and all his clones.
Now is that criminal? I don't think so. Stupid idiots manage all kinds of companies every day. But I'll tell you this - knowing what I know about the quality of Kanakuk's managers - if my kid was one of those molested by Pete, I'd soon be owning some valuable lakefront property on Taneycomo. Or I'd die trying...
I'm the one who left the comment referenced above. I wanted to say this about my statement. There have been a number of comments on previous threads about "worship" of any man, much less a Kanakuk employee. When we take our eyes and hearts off of Christ, and place our faith in "men," we are going to be disappointed.
There is no doubt that Pete liked to be admired and fawned over by the parents and kids. And, that also applies to Joe White...anyone who has ever seen one of his performances or the ridiculous videos on youtube can clearly see this.
Many, many good Christians have been hurt by Kanakuk (in this matter), and many more will be hurt because of the, in my opinion, foolish and prideful way the camp has handled it. There are still staunch supporters who refuse to beleive that Kanakuk could have possibly done anything wrong. Once depositions are entered into a court record, it becomes part of the public domain, and anyone will be able to request the information. Kanakuk is playing "chicken" with the truth.
Joe has been working the victim's families since this happened to quietly settle this case. Because I know some of the victims, I know how little they settled for, partly because they believe Joe. Once the parents have settled, they have signed away their kid's rights to receive additional money for therapy, counseling, and whatever other support these kids need.
More than one parent noted Joe's arrogance...it was as if he thought he was above or somehow "protected" from sin. None of us is. Evil is alive and well on earth, even in Branson.
Keep your eyes on CHRIST, not Joe White and Kanakuk.
I worked at Kanakuk as a nurse in the late 1990's. I caught 2 leadership staff in bed together, reported directly to Debbie Jo White, and she brushed me off. She said since they still had their clothes on there was no harm done. This happened in the Nursing Director's home! These were not counselors, but leadership staff! Sweeping immorality under the rug at that level shows you why it was comfortable for them to turn a blind eye to it with others.
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